Rising tide
by thatsonehappychick
Summary: Haunted by his last naughty act as a bad tiger, Diego's guilt starts to get the better of him during the melt down. Luckily he has friends to help him through. No fear of spoilers as both these films are well old.


Inspired by Damien Rice's 'Cold Water'! Ripped heavily off of 'Zombie Land's' Epiphany moment with the evil clown at the end! I have came up with a strange short that I think bridges the ever so slight plot hole between film one where Diego is not bothered by water and film two where he is suddenly and ashamedly petrified by the stuff. (Sorry for the long sentence please feel free to breathe again)

Starts out a bit angst (Oooo I hate angst) but it does have a nice fluffy, soft landing so don't get put off to quick!

Oh yeah and it's from Diego's p.o.v.

* * *

Cold water surrounds me. Deep, dark and very, very cold water. It is eerily peaceful, an empty and quiet scene. There is just me, and I'm exhausted. I know that this is a dream and just wait patiently, forever, to wake up. The water eats all sound from my limbs pathetically thrashing against it; it smothers my body's heat, leaving me numb, it kills my useless fight against it. Finally it will take my breath and fill me instead with its cold dark silence, but I will wake before that happens, I always do. I know when the dream is done with me because I see her, Roshan's mother looking at me defiantly; just before I am pulled away, back to reality, back to dry land and at last the light of morning.

I never used to dream this. But when it started, it definitely changed me, and drastically. I felt fear for the first time, I felt hunted. Well in retrospect I wish I had changed before that point, when the herd accepted me as a member of their team regardless of my nature. I only thought of them as naive. Even when Manny saved me from the lava I was still intent on eating them and earning my place as 'beta' in my pack. But then I had** 'the dream'**, and my perspective changed, now it was all about the herd succeeding in its mission and for me to make amends with this angry ghost haunting me.

It was a last minute decision, a really desperate act that unfortunately failed.

My pack could never understand, I could never explain it to them, regret was beyond their understanding as it should have been beyond mine, I kill something every other day! Why I should start to doubt my nature now I can't even begin to image! But that was an unusual hunt that I had been sent on, it was purely vengeful. To save her only child, I had forced a mother to make the 'ultimate sacrifice' for love, and had watched her disappear to a watery grave; it was bound to affect me. I left, there was no way she could survive that and if she did then I wanted to just leave her be.

That of course was never my decision to make and I was sent back.

Well I had hunted her child for days after that and now prepared to make what I thought was _**my '**__ultimate sacrifice'_ for her Childs safety, I fought my own leader so to be free from the guilt. Well it was enough to see the mammoth and sloth carry on with the kid, albeit without me.

I fell into darkness thinking I would just die in peace, but again I found myself surrounded by water. This time however I was bleeding and time was short as my life slipped quicker than ever away from me, I was not done. I had to get up and see the end with my own eyes, to **know** that the child had made it back safely. I needed to witness its return. When I was satisfied it bore me no hatred I didn't care after that, I could do no more for it.

The dream however stayed. I learnt to live with it, with myself.

I stayed with the herd, we were all vagrants, alone in ourselves. We had each other and a far away destination and each of us needed no more than just that.

I was reduced to scavenging; I had lost my edge and was fearful now of my own actions, of regretting. I fitted in with the herd now more than I could ever hope to fit with my own kind ever again. I was broken, and was glad for their company, the distraction from my own thoughts.

Eventually the dream stopped, life went on. I must have forgotten her face, her eyes as she made her terrible decision and leap, her disappearing beneath the foamy depths. I managed to forget, for a while anyway. But it was replaced by a more physical manifestation, water, real water was all around me and everywhere. I was paranoid of course, or so I thought.

Everywhere there was so much water, more than I could ever remember seeing in my life, in rivers, pools, falls, under the ice, water rising, lapping, flowing! And the fragile ice, like my sanity was melting. The ghost was out to drag me under to feel her cold dark fate!

I tried to ignore it. Just guilt, just mad, just pretend not to notice and get on with life.

Mammals spoke of floods, drowning, everything being violently washed away.

The herd latched on to an idea to get to a boat before I had a break down and we all set out away from the water. But there was no escaping it, it was everywhere. The more we ran the more water there was and the more I dreamt of being held under by evil cold things till I found myself tremble at the merest puddle. I couldn't even drink now without reliving the moment that she jumped.

And new monsters lurked in the water, hidden in the deep dark depths. Monsters I could not fight, why did I not just throw myself in and be done with it? Sid would not let me, he made me run, made me focus on moving and not looking at the water beneath me, taught me the basics of staying afloat, of fighting the water. Sid who's so weak and defenceless not to mention totally incompetent, was not ashamed of me being afraid, of me being useless against this enemy. I was still his friend, his tiger. He lit a fire and made light of the situation regardless, this was just another hurdle, just another obstacle, it was defiantly no big deal.

I went to sleep that night thinking if he isn't going to die of fear from this whole melt down then I will de dammed if I do. Well I had the dream again, only this time I woke to find the water was rising all around while we slept, I was just as scared. There were other problems in the herd so hiding my fear was easy of course, until that is when everything seemed to reach a head.

The herd had separated I hadn't paid that much attention to everyone else's problems since mine were all consuming. I found myself looking for the three possums which we had decided we didn't even like along with the rest of the herd.

Sid found them and despite his absolute hopelessness tried to save them anyway. Well of course he failed and sunk like a big fat rock, but he jumped in fighting! Manny was already in deep and fighting for control, it was just me left.

This was going to be my fate, I deserved it! I would not get swept in a coward fearing it! I made up my mind there and then, I was going to go a hero, _**the **_hero Sid believed me to be! I had the strength within me, I had had it all along but I needed a reason to conquer it, a reason to get over my past and that reason was my friend. The guy who taught me that you can make yourself accepted no matter how smelly, you can take the Mickey out of others no matter how ugly you are, and you can take the piss out of a hurting mammoth and not believe you should face any consequences because living is for the here and now, the past is yesterday and all that matters is your friends and this moment!

It's funny how fate can lead you to an exact spot to challenge you like this to your absolute limit. This was it what I needed, it had to be Sid to make me jump, it had to be now as I could run from my guilt no longer. So I jumped! And it was cold, and it was dark, everything I feared. The water swelled over my head taking away all sound except its own soothing all consuming rush as it washed away my strength and swept away my hope.

I held tight to Sid's words not allowing myself to give up, not to be defeated while I still had breath! I fought the water, the currents with sweeps of my claws and with thoughts of reaching Sid, not of her face, her eyes, her disappearing. And not of the monsters! Just Sid! Then there he was.

He had waited for me and still held his breath! I pulled him up to the surface carefully clutched to my chest, ironically just as she had held her baby, I pushed him out to safety just as she probably had but I did not let go there! Because Sid is his own worst enemy and would never be truly safe from the trouble he can make, also because my body was not crushed and broken from the fall like hers I suppose, I pulled myself up and out to fight on. I also saved some possums but that was neither here nor there.

Of course I wasn't going to let this tremendous feat go straight to my head and try jumping back in to save Manny that would have been suicidal. We waited for him to try conquering his own demons, forever I might add, and then we stood as a herd to be swept away together. The water was still raging. Well so be it I had no shame now, nothing.

But the anger had gone from the tide, it had changed, I guess she felt I had paid, I had understood what it was too give yourself to your fear because sometimes someone is more important, she was at peace, and let us go.

The waters washed away quicker than they could ever have done in the real world leaving dry, waterless, safe land. No monsters, other than me, no hidden dark places, no cold, because the snow had been cleared up, just green grass and trees left intact and sunshine, and my herd.

I had overcome my fears beaten my demons, lost the herd because Manny decided to chase after Ellie leaving only me and Sid, but that didn't matter who else did I really need. I even tried to say how I felt about him and let him hug me, _Yuk!_ I was so absorbed in victory of the moment!

Scary to think about what I might have said now, _double Yuk!_

Well Manny was back of course, but that was ok the moment had passed. Sid had ruined it by then wanting to be carried, and he smelt over powering of wet sloth, so Manny was welcome to carry him high out of smells reach till he dried off.

I was the real hero of this adventure and I hadn't even let on to any of them how close to the edge I had actually been. They were all happy anyway but then vegetarians usually are a bit weird like that. I was healed and now going back to being a guilt free carnivore, I just wouldn't eat humans, or mammoths they might have the 'deep eye grief power' as well. So all's well that ends well, as long as I can still remember how to hunt!

* * *

The end.

A bit silly as he was really quite happy throughout the second film but it might have been a nervous smile and this story wasn't going to leave me alone till it was out, so there it is.

good, bad, very boring? I'd love some feed back on this one please!!


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